Senator Runciman Wants Action

"In a province staggering from the loss of manufacturing jobs, this initiative (OLG gaming modernization) may achieve some short-term revenue gains, but its long-term negative impacts on individuals, families, rural and small-town Ontario cannot be under-estimated.”

Stating that he wants the minority Ontario Liberal Government to "reconsider its latest attack on the rural economy," Senator Bob Runciman has followed up on his recent column against the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp's decision to cancel the widely beneficial slots-at-racetracks program.

Senator Runciman issued a media release Wednesday, May 30, which has, yet again, clearly outlined how scrapping the SAR program is a poor decision by the Ontario Liberals.

The contents of Senator Runciman's release appear below.

The Ontario government should reconsider its latest attack on the rural economy --- the cancellation of the Slots at Racetracks Program --- Senator Bob Runciman said in a statement in the Senate chamber today.

The cancellation of the program “will result in thousands of job losses, primarily in rural Ontario, and devastate an industry that is key to the economic well-being of many smaller communities,” Runciman said. The program, in which racetracks and the horse-racing industry split 20 per cent of revenue from slot machines located at tracks, has been widely credited with stabilizing and rejuvenating the racing industry by allowing tracks to offer higher purses. But Slots at Racetracks was cancelled with no consultation in the Ontario government’s spring budget. Slots have already been pulled from some tracks, with more scheduled to lose them next year as the government concentrates gambling in larger, urban casinos.

Runciman told fellow Senators that the cancellation of the program will cost at least half of the 60,000 jobs in the horse-racing industry. “Many of those who will lose jobs have worked in the industry all their lives. Some are second and third-generation racetrack workers who would be unlikely to find jobs outside this highly specialized industry,” Runciman said.

“And it’s not just the horse business, but the broader economy, particularly in small-town and rural Ontario, that will be hit. Blacksmiths, veterinarians, truck dealers, crop growers, hardware stores --- they will all lose with the program’s cancellation. Thousands of jobs outside the horse business itself will disappear,” Runciman said.

"In a province staggering from the loss of manufacturing jobs, this initiative may achieve some short-term revenue gains, but its long-term negative impacts on individuals, families, rural and small-town Ontario cannot be under-estimated,” Runciman said.

Slots at Racetracks adds $1.1 billion annually to provincial coffers, while the horse-racing industry delivers another $261 million to the province exclusive of slot revenues --- money that will be at risk if, as expected, some racetracks end up having to close.